Vegan Brownie Chocolate Ice Cream

Oh dearly lordy dear kitchen in a hat basket I’ve done it again. This time, with chocolate.

You didn’t think I’d let my coconut ice cream obsession escape me without delving into the world chocolate, did you? Good, because if so I was going to have to start questioning our friendship, you and I.

This recipe is so so easy there’s no excuse for you not to try it as warmer temps arrive. The base is coconut and almond milk, cocoa powder brings a rich, chocolaty flavor, vanilla adds balance, and chunks of my vegan GF brownies bring it to a whole other dimension.

Just ask John how delicious it was. He caught me doing more “sampling” than taking photos and nearly had to take the spoon away as I was hovering over the container with crazy wolverine eyes. This stuff is that good and it doesn’t taste healthy, vegan, or gluten-free one bit! So, so pleased.

Instructions

Place coconut and almond milk, xanthan gum, cocoa powder, vanilla, and sugar in a blender and blend until well combined. Transfer to a mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate until chilled through - at least a couple hours.

Once chilled, pour into pre-chilled ice cream maker and use according to directions. (Alternatively, pour into a freezer-safe container, cover and freeze, taking out to stir every couple hours to aerate.)

Once the ice cream is at soft-serve consistency, add in brownie chunks. You can either do this at the end of the ice cream maker's churning process, or once you pour it into a container. Smooth the top with a spoon, cover, and freeze until firm. Or eat immediately though it will be quite soft.

Dana – your ice cream photos finally motivated me to pull out my ice cream maker and put the bowl in the freezer. There will be ice cream at my house this weekend, and I’m thinking this particular version is going to be a lead contender!

Dana – made this and LOVED it! I used the honey option and used leftover brownies from a batch I made for my office. It came out so creamy and just right on the richness front. I totally heart this recipe.

Hello, yes, this looks just amazing and I´d love to try to make it, however was wondering if I could substitute xantam gum with something else as I can´t find it here in Spain (and am not even sure if that stuff is healthy??) I do hope you will reply soon! Thanks in advance.

Actually, it helps keep the ice cream from getting rock hard and grainy. It’s pretty much essential if you want creamy ice “cream”! Some people have had luck adding alcohol (something rather flavorless like vodka), to keep it from freezing too solid.

That moment when you find a new (to you) blogger and realize you’re going to be looking through their recipes for the next hour (at the very least)…that is what is going on right now haha. Loving all your recipes!

So, I know it’s stupid to comment on the result before it’s finished, but I can’t help myself, because the batter is hea.ven.ly! I could seriously just take a spoon and gobble it all up, or even better, drink it through a straw. I omitted the brownies (sorry, will add them next time), now the batter is resting in my fridge until tomorrow when it will be put in my ice cream maker. I will dream of coconut chocolate ice cream tonight and I must put in some extra hours at the gym this week…….
Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes!

This is amazing! I made it for my friends birthday and everyone loved it. I plan on making it a million more times. I used black bean brownies and couldn’t help but eat a few chunks before even adding them in! Seriously such a delicious treat. Thank you for this easy-to-follow recipe! Vegans like you are amazing!

Oh. My. Word. SO GOOD!! I didn’t do the brownies this time, but will at some point because my favorite dairy ice cream was chocolate with brownie chunks. I’ve been vegan for a year and a half and have only tried two store-bought vegan ice creams in that timeframe and was, of course, totally disappointed in those.

I did feel like it needed a little more sweetness, or maybe my cocoa was too rich? Although that didn’t stop me from inhaling half the batch! I can’t believe how easy this was to make and how creamy and smooth it was.

i mixed this up earlier and just pulled it out of the freezer for its first stir, let me just say WOW!! My only question is if i can use coconut milk fromthe bigger carton like Silk’s Pure Coconut Milk. I only ask because i am going to have to make a big batch to accomodate my family and cans of coconut milk are expensive. Thanks in advance!

You can use coconut milk like that but it will turn out FAR less creamy because the fat content is so much lower. I know full fat coconut milk in the can is pricy, but there’s not much else you can do for substituting…If you want to save a little money though, sub the other half of the coconut milk for almond milk or light coconut milk beverage like Silk. Just don’t sub out ALL of the canned – I fear it won’t turn out right…Hope that helps!

Cashews! I’m about to mix up another, similar recipe using cashews as a base. I haven’t tried it before but all reviews say that it yields a creamy and delicious result.
3/4 c cashews
2 1/4 c water
1 c + 2 Tb sugar
1 t espresso powder
1 pinch salt

Combine mixture with remaining ingredients in a blender and blend on ‘whip’ setting for 1 minute
cover and cool at least two hours
whip the mixture by hand for two minutes before processing
fold in brownies or other add ins after processing

Just about to make this delicous looking recipe. I have a question about the coconut milk – I’m not a huge fan of coconut based ice creams – does this one taste strongly conconuty? How do you think this would turn out if I were to increase the almond milk quantity to 1 -3/4 c and decrease the coconut milk to 1 c? (swap the amounts)

Linda, good question. No it doesn’t! The chocolate and brownie bits actually overwhelm the coconut flavor. I’d stick with the ratios I’ve provided for the ideal texture and flavor profile. But feel free to experiment as well! Hope that helps.

Thanks Dana, I did try the alternate quantities in order to reduce the fat and the first night it was great! Scoopable and light. Unfortunately, the next night and thereafter, it has been very hard to get out of the containter. Takes about 20 minutes to get some bits out – not nice scoops. I suppose that has to do with the lack of fat. The flavor is very good, however I used raw cacao powder in it – and it seemed to make it more bitter than I’d like. What type of cocoa powder are you using for this recipe? I also used brown sugar and cornstarch in place of what was suggested. Thanks – it was fun to play with this recipe! Just discoverd your blog and I’m enjoying your recipe ideas!

my daughter is allergic to coconut and also almond milk. i bought an ice cream machine and i have been using it to make ice cream for my husband and I, but i haven’t found a recipe to make for my daughter. she loves ice cream but she’s getting tired of eating banana chocolate ice cream. right now she drinks oat milk and hemp milk.
PS: she is allergic to dairy,eggs,coconut,sesame,wheat,tree nuts. can you please help me? thanks

I know this is several years late; however, what I use is a soft tofu sometimes, whipped with just a bit of oil and then my sweetener and silk soymilk (it is creamier than most). Make sure to really aerate before putting in the ice cream freezer and add the guar gum. Really yummy addition is “cheesecake” at the end as well when making vanilla or fruit ice cream. I make the “cheesecake” out of millet and tofu. Hopefully you have had something for your daughter!

For the blogger: I just saw this recipe and it looks absolutely delicious after a few modifications for my allergies. ☺Thank you so much for posting this! Yummy!!!

I love this recipe, it tastes divine! And super easy to whip up even without an ice cream maker. We tend to replace the brownies with a vegan chocolate fudge cake but it’s still fab, and gets gobbled by the little (and big!) mouths in record time Thanks so much for sharing!

Oh man, just snuck a taste and it’s amazing. Instead of adding vegan brownies, we added chopped up Trader Joe’s Chocolate Covered Almonds. Incredible. Can’t wait to dig in tomorrow for a full serving/pint.

I will say it didn’t really thicken much in our ice cream maker. However, it’s a brand new one that I have no experience with. We are used to the canister ones, but this is the kind where you just add everything into the machine and turn it on, no pre-chilling of anything. Oh well, still tastes amazing :)

Upon discovering that the ice cream machine I intended on using doesn’t work, I resorted to the old fashion method. I’ve got to say that it’s doing okay, but I’ve had to stir it every hour, rather than every couple hours. No matter what it looks like in the end, I know it’s going to taste great (because I’ve already tasted it!)

OMG!!! Fabulous recipe, thank you so much. I followed the recipe, just added a bit more sugar.

Instead of an ice cream maker, I used the Dessert Bullet. After mixing all the ingredients, I spooned the mixture into a few ice cube trays, and followed the instructions of my Dessert Bullet. It was amazing. We also had it straight from the freezer, as ice lolly.

Dana, thank you so much. One thing I love is ice cream. Now that I am no longer in the dark about dairy cows I am happy not to buy it but you have given it back to me. Thanks so much. I can’t wait to try this recipe out.

This is amazing! Wow! It’s so rich and creamy. I used an ice cream maker and subbed 1 tsp. cornstarch for the xanthan gum and used dark chocolate cocoa powder. You would never guess this is vegan. I can’t stop eating it. So good!!

Thanks for the recipe! I love the idea of blending the base to incorporate the xanthan gum. I used the base recipe, but, instead of making chocolate ice cream, I’m making Persian-style saffron rosewater ice cream with pistachios. The base is chilling. I think it will be a winner! We’ll see.

Very late on the parade here, but have just found your website and this recipe. Can you tell me if I can
use regular sugar instead of the raw. I don’t have anything to grind the raw sugar and don’t even buy raw sugar. If I do substitute would I need to use more or less white sugar do you think?

One of the hardest parts of going vegan for my husband has been his nightly frozen yogurt ritual. This recipe was so good, and I’d hoped I’d finally found my base for many flavors. It came out of the ice cream mixer perfect and was great the first night. The following night though, it was very hard (not rock hard, I’ve tried a few recipes that effectively turned into ice cubes), but too hard to scoop so we end up with a bowl of flakes to get a serving. I followed the recipe exactly, other than using agave syrup instead of raw ground sugar or honey. I’ve made it with and without the brownies, and will continue to use the base because it’s the best so far, but I’d like to get to where it stays creamy for say a couple weeks in the freezer.

I used the xanthum gum. Is the raw ground sugar or honey over agave critical? Should I just keep adding more xanthum gum (maybe this is a geographic issue since I know that can impact cooking times and such)? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

This should be a standard: it is a wonderful, simple recipe that has also provided me a lot of insight into making ice cream making generally. BTW, making ice cream is an amazing profitable food hobby: any effort is rewarded with gushing applause… similar to making pasta, another hobby of mine. We are far from vegan at home, but my 4-year-old son is on a special diet that has us eliminating dairy for him. We were more interested in the chocolate ice cream, so we did not do the vegan brownies–that’s for down the road. My other small adds/changes were rice milk instead of almond milk (we made the switch because of drought conditions in California–are we helping? We think we are.) Also, 1 additional can of Coconut cream and some additional agave for sweetness. After chilling in the fridge after blending, it was the consistency of pudding–not a bad thing, just unexpected–but it froze in our Cuisinart ice cream maker like a champ–creamy, sweet but, much more importantly, rich. The *only* thing–this may relate to Patty’s comment from above–is that there was a somewhat thick “shell” left after it finished. HOWEVER, my sons (I also have a 2 year old) and I just scraped that off and made a meal of it. It’s like the best cold chocolate bar you’ve eaten–this is to say, this could easily double as a fudgesicle-esque recipe, frozen in a silicon mold without an ice cream maker. Congrats–I think this recipe wonderfully typifies your mission statement. Simple, uncomplicated, delicious.

I just made this and it came out so thick it was more like pudding. Was it suppose to be pourable? I used the exact amount of xanthan it called for. The only difference is I used cashew milk instead of almond. Is it suppose to be that thick? Other than that it taste wonderful! Thanks!

Made an almost identical batch from another recipe (before I saw this post) without the Xantham (wasn’t in the original recipe) and it’s like a chocolate slushy. Tastes good but terrible texture. A hard icy-slushy.
If I thaw it, add the Xantham gum, re-blend then re-process in the ice cream maker – think that will achieve a better consistency?
Thanks for any help :)

I made this, the mixture tasted really good, but it froze rock solid hard. I followed the recipe and used the xanthan gum. Do you know why this happened? should I add more xanthan gum next time, would that help?

Hello! Wanted to ask one question: is it possible not to use xanthan gum when making ice-cream? Because I really have no idea where to get it but the dinner with the friends is already tomorrow and your wonderful ice-cream was on the plan :)
Thank you for the answer!

Just wanted to say I made this last night – I was low on cacao powder so only put 1/3 cup cacao and then 1/3 cup of Rainbow spiced cacao chai powder and it was amazing!!!! If anyone else is in Australia – the brand is Rainbow Chai.

Also used Chia seeds instead of xanthan gum but probably wont do that again as keep getting them stuck in my teeth :)

This is such an awesome recipe! My friend and I made the brownies AND ice cream today and had such a fun time. I agree with everyone else who’s loved it. Thanks so much for sharing it with all of us, Dana!

This looks sooooo good, but I have to ask. I’m allergic to both soy milk and almond milk, do you think I’d be ok substituting in regular (or sweetened) coconut milk in place of the almond milk? Because I’d really like to try this recipe!

This looks amazing! I’d love to make these into ice cream pops. Do you think it’s necessary to freeze the batter before placing it into an ice pop mold since I’m looking to achieve a creamy texture. Also, is the xanthan gum necessary or can I omit it? Thanks so much!

Loved this recipe! I don’t have an ice cream maker and only stirred it twice when it was in the freezer, so it was a little icy still, but overall pretty good. Mine turned out a little more bitter because I didn’t have vanilla almond milk. I expect that would have made it taste sweeter.
I was not expecting it to be this delicious, and it tasted almost exactly like the real deal.

I used coconut milk from the carton, the kind you get in the refrigerator section, plus the almond milk, doubled (slightly less than doubled, actually) the xanthan gum and used agave syrup instead of sugar….I was prepared to be disappointed because the batter was meh, but once it was frozen, it was really great! And you can’t taste the coconut at all (although I love a coconutty ice cream). Probably better with the canned coconut but I’m really happy with this for a lower fat alternative.
Thanks for the recipe and inspiration!

This is a GREAT ice cream recipe. Super easy to whip together and tastes deliciously fudgey. I have never made it with the brownies, I usually just do it without or recently I have started adding a tablespoon of peanut butter which is delicious :)

This really tasted wonderful! I am wondering how you chose to use (full fat) coconut milk only as the base, rather than cashews, like in a few other recipes. My kids didn’t like the taste of the coconut base.

So yummy! My dairy-eating family members loved it too. It was very creamy, just rich enough, and chocolatey. My only piece of advice would be to add more sweetener. After tasting the base I added in a splash more maple syrup and some stevia drops, and still felt it could’ve used a hint more sweetness. Otherwise, amazing recipe!

This site has several great recipes but this isn’t on. Tasteless, rock solid, not creamy at all. I’ve been cooking for 20 plus years and would like to understand how anyone who made this recipe achieved a creamy ice cream.
I followed the recipe to the t.